Rotax Max Euro Challenge, Round 3

press release

The summer round of the 2010 Rotax Max Euro Challenge couldn’t get much hotter at the 1,160m Speedworld circuit on the outskirts of Vienna, as the temperatures soared into the low 40’s just as it had several years ago when the popular central European venue hosted the series. However, this didn’t stop the competitors from turning up the heat when it came to the racing. Now after the third round of the championship, the titles in all of the Rotax classes being contested are still up for grabs!

Above: Start of the Senior Pre-final. Edward Brand (GBR) narrowly won the 17-lapper from pole position
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

Above: Qualifying Polesitters at Speedworld circuit, Austria: MAX MASTER – Tom Holland (GBR), JUNIOR MAX – Jack Aitken (GBR), SENIOR MAX – Karol Dabski (POL), ROTAX DD2 – Tiago Ribeiro (POR)
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

SENIOR MAX
It was the Polish driver for Uniq Racing, Karol Dabski (43.091), now driving out of the Kalman Motorsport awning of Hungary for Birel who clearly secured pole position in the opening group of official timed practice in Senior Max. Ferenc Kancsár set the second best lap 0.124 seconds off the pace of the 18-year old in the same session, ahead of Dabski’s team mate and polesitter from the previous round Ed Brand. In the following group, championship leader Joey van Splunteren eventually split the difference to be the quickest in the session and take 4th overall in the 72-kart field, having held an identical laptime with fellow Dutch rival Mats van den Brand when there was only 5 minutes to go.

A jam-packed program Saturday comprised of 18 qualifying heats, so it was a long, hot day under the unusually blazing Austrian sunshine. Ed Brand claimed pole for the pre-final in the ranking after the six senior races, taking two wins and a 2nd to edge out Dabski a single point behind with two wins and a 3rd. Row 2 was Van Splunteren on grid 3 with a win and two 2nd places, lining up next to Aavo Talvar ranked 4th also with one win, while Kancsár in 5th had three top 3 finishes.

An eventful start to Sunday’s pre-final saw Van den Brand off row 10 retire from the race on the first corner following a collision with Matija Jurkovic and Steven Hees, who’d both ranked inside the first 10 following the heats. The race turned out to be a battle for victory until the very last lap between the quickest guy on the circuit Ed Brand and Van Splunteren. The pair swapped places in a nail-biting dual to the flag that kept the spectators glued to the action, with Brand finally regaining the lead for the win in the closing stages. Dabski fell out of contention to take 6th starting from the outside next to Brand, while Anthon Barthon who had featured in the series in 2009 came through from P12 to seal 3rd place. He’d overpowered Talvar unable to match the pace, after James Greenway in 5th also tried to keep the petite Frenchman from getting away.

Above: Senior MAX winner Ed Brand
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

From pole, Ed Brand lost his lead to Barthon temporarily at the beginning of the 21-lap final, but soon claimed it back to pull a gap of more than 2.5 seconds on his closest challenger by the chequered flag and fight off any opportunity to be beaten. By lap 3, Greenway had already given Van Splunteren a hurry-up and passed an ambitious Barthon as well for P2. He set into hunting down Brand for the trophy, but several laps later series leader Van Splunteren snatched 2nd away from the English driver who has been a front-runner from the beginning of the ’10 season. Winner of round 2 in Wackersdorf, John Friberg got off to a slow start on the grid, but made up good ground and found a couple of tenths in his times from the race prior to secure a comfortable 5th place and keep himself in the running for a top 3 chance in the championship. After a disappointing penalty at Salbris ended his title hopes, Ross Wylie was consistent throughout the weekend to take a well-deserved 6th.

Talvar fell back from the outside row start to be 7th in the end, as did Dabski who found himself behind the entire field after his better judgment faltered slightly. He did however set the best lap of the race just 0.05s off his pole qualifying time as he attempted to climb his way up the order. Tom Fawcett was another man on a mission, driving from near the back to savour 8th ahead of Berry Torenvliet and an incredible effort from Niek Vos to be in 10th after qualifying for the finals by taking 5th in the second chance eliminator that morning. The honours at Speedworld though belonged to Senior Max rookie and 2009 Junior Euro vice champ Ed Brand, who now sits 3rd in the series points behind Fawcett, as Van Splunteren continues to maintain his lead in the championship.  
                                                                                                                 
Ed Brand – “After taking pole at the last round at Wackersdorf, the rest of the weekend didn’t go so well, but we’ve made up for it here in Austria! The start was quite good in the final, but [Anthon] Barthon still managed to get by me in the hairpin to take the lead. Once the new tyres came into play, I was able to get him back and never had a problem from there. I thought Joey van Splunteren would have been closer after the dice we had in the pre-final, but obviously the excellent HRS Engine and Birel Chassis were just too good!”

Rotax Senior Max
1 – Edward Brand Great Britain Birel Kalman Motorsport
2 – Joey Van Splunteren Netherlands Gillard DFK
3 – James Greenway Great Britain Tonykart Strawberry Racing

Above: Senior podium - 2 Joey van Splunteren (NED), 1 Edward Brand (GBR), 3 James Greenway (GBR)
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

JUNIOR MAX
 It was a very humid 32°C in the shade when the first of the Junior Max qualifying sessions hit the circuit after lunch Friday. British driver Jack Aitken (43.393)of Protrain Racing topped the timesheets on his 4th lap from movers Dave Blom and Jack Barlow, each posting better times than the Junior World number 1 Ukyo Sasahara, who was then fastest in the next group to come out. His time of 42.506 gave him P4 overall from 47 entries and unlike the seniors, the junior qualifying saw group 1 faster than the second group.

The racing was sensational throughout Saturday’s heats, with non-stop action until the very end. Dutch champion Joel Affolter had been doing the hard yards testing and racing in the high temperatures at the Speedworld circuit (with his dad helping out) in the lead-up to the event, so it was no surprise that he won two of the qualifiers plus took a 2nd to be on pole position for the pre-final. Three points in arrears, Sasahara took one win, a 2nd and 3rd place to share the front row, while Blom and Martin Rump drove well for P3 and 4. Aitken had one victory, though lost out in a last lap altercation in one race with Barlow who actually had 2 wins, but was penalised 10 seconds; the result of which left the English duo ranked 7th and 8th next to each other on the pre-final start grid.

Above: Jack Barlow #27 takes a close victory in the Junior Max final from his Strawberry Racing team mate Joel Affolter #57
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

Within a short time of the race getting underway, Affolter was relegated to P2 as Sasahara had a good look then grabbed the soonest opportunity to assume the lead. Aitken made his way into 2nd within 3 laps followed by Alexander Weiss, who was in P3 until Barlow claimed it just over half-race distance. The #27 driver then stole Aitken’s place yet again with a move through the “jump” chicane, seeing the fastest qualifier drop to 7th. Affolter went into 3rd as the race drew to a close, with an appearance from James Singleton up to 4th from grid 14 after he’d been handed a driving standards flag earlier on. George Williams won the battle for 5th ahead of local lady driver Corinna Kamper. The easy win went to Sasahara 4 seconds out in front of team mates Barlow and Affolter.

Quite a change from the previous days, a gusty, cool breeze made racing conditions more bearable Sunday afternoon, even with some rain looming on the horizon.  The Japanese driver got into the lead trailed by the inside odd-numbered starting row directly behind; him consisting of Affolter, Williams and Aitken. The dicing went on as the leading pack pulled a gap. 5 laps gone and Affolter was searching for a way past Sasahara, but a yellow flag ruined the first chance to overtake. Barlow had P3 by the halfway mark then 2 laps later Affolter overtook the leader, shadowed by Barlow, which allowed two other karts, to pass Sasahara before he could rejoin on the race line. Soon after Barlow was leading, while the minor positions shuffled over the remaining laps.

Above: Junior Max Final grid – World #1 Ukyo Sasahara (JAP) on pole position for the Final after earlier winning the pre-final by 4 seconds. Barlow sharing the front row was the eventual winner at round 3.
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

Affolter never risked his precious championship points to have a shot at the victory and was followed by Aitken for 3rd across the line. The race pace for the final was set by Blom who started on grid 12 and put up an impressive drive to finish 4th, two seconds ahead of Williams and Sasahara. Weiss dropped a few spots to 7th with Victor Bouveng behind him, and then came Nathan Harrison and Pedro Faria in 10th. Unfortunately, James Singleton ended a lap down and missed out on the extra points he looked like claiming. Bas De Laat was at the top of the championship table coming into round 3, but failed to qualify in Austria and now sits in 6th place overall. Although Barlow has the most points in total from Affolter and Sasahara 3rd, Affolter is in fact leading his team mate when the worst result in a pre-final and final are deducted. This also brings Singleton up to P3, only one point behind Barlow.

Jack Barlow – “I went back a little bit at the start so just put my head down and came through. I caught up to my team mate and followed him through, then passed him for the lead and pushed on. It was really a good race! Joel [Affolter] is very smart and he was competing for the top of the championship and ahead of me in the points, so he didn’t really need to pass me in the end. I also want to say a big thank you to Strawberry Racing, mum and dad, and my sponsors.”

Rotax Junior Max
1 – Jack Barlow Great Britain Tonykart Strawberry Racing
2 – Joel Affolter Netherlands Tonykart Strawberry Racing
3 – Jack Aitken Great Britain Gillard Protrain Racing

Above: Junior podium - 2Joel Affolter (NED), 1 Jack Barlow (GBR), 3 Jack Aitken (GBR)
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

MAX MASTERS
The unofficial practice sessions Friday morning were headed by the reigning Max Masters World number 1 Christophe Adams, currently leading the Euro series, as well as class newcomer Tom Holland. Hardly anything separated the pair and the qualifying that afternoon looked set to be a showdown between the two. Round 2 runner-up Anton Chupinin only did two timed laps in the 15 minute qualifying, but was the quickest straight away until Holland (44.358) completed his second lap of three in total which was good enough to take pole. Adams never left the grid after a technical issue prevented him from participating. This meant he would start all three heats from ROF.

Nobody could stop Holland from converting his pole position into three victories during each of the races Saturday, so he guaranteed himself another prime starting grid for the pre-final the next day. He set the best overall lap of the combined heats just 1/100th off his qualifying time, but admitted in the press conference in the evening that it was quite hard to lead and win all three of the races as he did – thanks to Dan Holland Racing, because Christophe Adams and Florent Lambert had been close enough to match his lap times throughout the weekend. He also added that Sunday was going to be tough! Joining the British driver on the front row would be Rotax Winter Cup Champion Florent Lambert, having taken 2nd place in each heat. Adams managed to rank 3rd after he finished in P3 twice, to therefore start beside Euro round 1 winner in France, Mikko Laine.

Most of the drivers in the 24years+ category chose to use their second set of new dry race tyres for the pre-final, apart from Holland and Jos Sleegers, who saved them for the final. Strangely enough, Holland was once again the pace-setter in the first of the finals, obviously looking after his Mojo D2s from Friday’s qualifying to get the most life out of them. The racing was amazingly close from the start, as Adams pushed hard to grab the lead from Holland, but had Chupinin on his bumper. He got by, just as Lambert slotted into 3rd, then 2nd soon following, as Holland fought off Chupinin for P3. By lap 8 of 17, Lambert had taken the lead from Adams while Holland resumed his place in 2nd. Laine also came into the top 5 battle and tried to take 4th from the Ukrainian unsuccessfully. Across the finish, a mere 2-tenths was all that Lambert held over Holland for the win, with a gap to Adams.

Above: Masters winner Christophe Adams (BEL) leading Florent Lambert (GBR), who almost stole the series leader’s thunder in the last lap dash to the flag
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

It was a familiar scene from the 2010 Masters final, as Lambert led while under attack from a very determined Adams as they gradually broke away from the main group. Laine only held P3 for one lap, losing it to Chupinin at the beginning of the lap 2. From P3 to 6 they were bunched up, as Adams claimed 1st a few minutes later and then Holland moved into 3rd on the fifth lap, setting out to bridge the gap to the leading pair. He was unable to lose Laine and eventually watched him take his podium place on the downside of half way through the race. Within 5 laps from the finish, Chupinin’s over-pretentious move to pass Holland got the attention of the officials and they showed him the driving standards flag. Appearing for the first time in the Euro Challenge this season, Katsuhisa Ikuta took advantage of the scuffle and overtook them both for P4.

Lambert persisted on wearing Adams down, setting the best lap time of the race in the process. The ‘last lap’ board came out as they approached a back-marker on the start/finish straight, which gave Lambert the ideal opportunity to pass. Adams immediately threw his arm in the air to signal to the slower driver that he was not pleased with his choice of race-line, which let Lambert take the lead in the final minute. The Belgian pushed hard to regain 1st from Lambert across the back section of the circuit, who declared after the prizegiving that he didn’t really defend well enough to ensure the win, leaving his known-protagonist with the one chance he needed to win. It was a jubilant Adams who took the flag and stayed at the top of the leader board in the series. Laine remains in second by a narrow margin of three points with dropped races and Lambert is not far behind in 3rd.

Christophe Adams – “I’m happy to have won today, but for the championship it’s still very close. I had a bad start when I didn’t do the qualifying session and had to start the races from last. We tried a different set-up in every heat to find the best setting for the finals – and it worked! I was very nervous in the last lap when someone braked in front of me when I went to overtake him and I lost the lead. But, I’m very pleased that I was able to get it back for a win that I think I really deserve today. Of course, I’d like to thank my new team for doing a great job.”

Rotax Max Masters
1 – Christophe Adams Belgium Tonykart Sport Karting Competition
2 – Florent Lambert Great Britain Tonykart Tatum Racing
3 – Mikko Laine Finland Parolin M Kart Team

Above: Masters podium - 2Florent Lambert (GBR), 1 Christophe Adams (BEL), 3 Mikko Laine (FIN)
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

ROTAX DD2
As was the case in every one of the four Rotax classes being run at the Euro Challenge event, one second off the pole lap time pretty much covered all but one or two drivers in the official timed practice Friday. In the 2-speed gearbox category, Portugal’s Tiago Ribeiro (42.587) claimed his 4th pole position in seven seasons of the championship, where he’s never missed a single round since the series began. Second best lap was set by Maik Barten 0.037 seconds short of the Team Korridas driver, with the same gap to Tomasz Krzeminski who was third fastest.

Ribeiro was beaten only by Barten in one of the three qualifying heats, then taking the honours in the other two races Saturday to confirm pole position for the pre-final alongside the quick driver from the Netherlands, who also had a 2nd. Making up row 2 were Krzeminski on P3 with a 2nd and 3rd together with one of the series front-runners Patrick Pearce off grid 4. The first of the DD2 Masters class drivers Dennis Kroes ranked 5 overall after he had a hat-trick of 5th places. Damien Vuillaume had two top three results, but a problem in one race prevented him from starting higher than row 6 Sunday. After a stunning display that won him round 2 in torrential conditions in Germany, Simas Juodvirsis was the one with the most prominent lap from all the heats. However, the Austrian event didn’t add to his personal list of successes.

A challenge was thrown at Ribeiro by Krzeminski within moments of the pre-final start when he took the lead for half a lap until the Iberian champ found his footing.  The Polish competitor dropped back to P3 as Barten pushed to catch Ribeiro. A great battle was also raging for 4th and 5th with Danish champion Dennis Ladefoged keeping Juodvirsis at bay for some time. The towering driver from Lithuania was one of the fastest on track and found a way past Ladefoged then stole 3rd from Krzeminski as well. Ribeiro crossed the line for the win 2 seconds ahead of Barten. Series leader Andreas Jenson was not having such a good weekend after he struggled with the starts at the Pachfurth venue, but if it’s any consolation at all, he set the quickest official lap of the DD2 class overall in this race Sunday.

Above: DD2 winner Tiago Ribeiro (POR) almost proved to be unbeatable in every session of the DD2 class from Friday’s official timed practice
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

The final was a brilliant race from the flag, but more so the racing behind the leader, than for the lead itself. Ribeiro remained unchallenged in effect the entire 21 laps. Yet, it was a bad start for Jensen crashing out on the first corner, while Krzeminski lost ground on the outside row, although he was one of the pace-setters as the race unfolded. Juodvirsis led the chase for Ribeiro ahead of Ladefoged and Vuillaume up from P7. The Frenchman soon held 3rd before dicing for 2nd, which saw him drop back around 7-tenths to P3. Pearce admitted he was not so confident before the race that he still had the speed he needed to reach the front, but by lap 5 he’d overtaken Barten for 5th with the first of the lady drivers in the class, Tiff Chittenden, not too far behind in 7th.

By half-race distance, Maxi Fleischmann had passed the former female British DD2 champ on a flyer, making up for a problem in qualifying where he’d only completed one slow lap. On lap 12, Vuillaume clocked best time and regained 2nd from Juodvirsis, who was later given a warning from the stewards after going head-to-head with Ladefoged and consequently fell back to 10th after they tangled. This also ended the Dane’s race. In the meantime, Ribeiro stretched his lead to three seconds to take a comfortable, well-deserving victory ahead of an elated Vuillaume, who gave credit after the race to his opponents for some really nice racing Sunday afternoon. He’s now second in the series four points behind Jensen when their two worst-scoring finals are deducted.

It was a fantastic drive by 16-year old Fleischmann to secure 3rd for his first ever European podium, followed by Pearce in 4th with the most points in the series, but with dropped rounds he’s on equal 3rd with Barten, who finished in P7. Chittenden had a superb top 5 result on her return to the series after missing the German round, only 5 places in front of her sister, who drove a great race to take P10 and second on the podium in the DD2 Masters category on the heels of the “seasoned” class winner for the day Dennis Kroes in 9th. The past World number 1 is also leading the DD2 Masters points for 2010. As a contrast, the youngest of the 2-speed drivers Matthew Di Leo gave the Canadians something to cheer about by finishing 6th against some of the best DD2 drivers from around the world. Christophe Raymakers put in a huge effort to come through from grid 26 to take 8th. 3rd place in the DD2 Masters on the day went to Carl Cleirbaut.

Tiago Ribeiro – “It was a very fantastic weekend! Everything worked well starting with pole position Friday then we had three good heats and now today winning both finals. We had a good set-up and the Intrepid kart worked well. We had no mechanical problems and some very good racing with fair driving. The laptimes were very close throughout the whole weekend and there are some very good drivers who are obviously fast here… so I’m very happy with the result!”

Rotax DD2
1 – Tiago Ribeiro Portugal Intrepid Korridas
2 – Damien Vuillaume France CRG FK Racing
3 – Maxi Fleischmann Germany Intrepid VPD Racing

Above: DD2 podium - 2 Damien Vuillaume (FRA), 1 Tiago Ribeiro (POR), 3 Maxi Fleischmann (GER)
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

ROTAX DD2 MASTERS
Dennis Kroes – “I really thought coming here to Austria that I could be on the top of the podium. The Tonykart is really going well this year and Kartshop Amsterdam and Team Kroes give me great support. For the championship, of course I hope to do well at Genk, but then everybody likes Genk and they have a lot of time to practice there as it’s the last round of the championship – so we’ll see. I’ll do my best to win!”

Rotax DD2 Masters
1 – Dennis Kroes Netherlands Tonykart Team Kroes
2 – Tamsin Germain Great Britain Maddox DG Racing
3 – Carl Cleirbaut Belgium Maddox VZ Racing

Above: Former DD2 Masters World number 1 Dennis Kroes (NED) succeeded in winning the category at round 3 maintaining his lead in championship in the latest class to be introduced at the Rotax Grand Finals in 2010. He finished 9th in the DD2 final Sunday ahead of #651 Tamsin Germain in 10th, who was 2nd in the Masters.
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

Complete race results and laptimes from all sessions beginning from Friday’s unofficial practice are available for download online at www.rgmmc.com by following the link to RGMMC LIVE TIMING.
The updated championship points can also be found at www.rgmmc.com by selecting ‘EURO CHALLENGE - RACE 3’ then “RESULTS” on the opening page.

RGMMC-TV takes the Rotax Max Euro Challenge action to thousands of race fans worldwide 24/7!

Click on the link at www.rgmmc.com and select “VIDEO ARCHIVE” at KARTWORLD TV for highlights and interviews from the Speedworld round plus all of the 2010 RGMMC events and many more.

Above: "Our" Jenni Wade speaking to RGMMC boss Mr. Roland Geidel for Kartworld TV which takes the action to the race fans 24/7 over the net with highlights from every event on the 2010 RGMMC calendar at www.rgmmc.com
pic - Bas Kaligis / RGMMC Media

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